IHSA Announcements

December 20, 2005

Tabulated Results of Survey on Classification and Tournament Structure

On December 5, IHSA member schools were asked to respond to a survey dealing with classification and tournament structure.  One survey was allotted to each school, to be filled out by its official IHSA representative, which in most cases is the principal or athletic director.  The deadline for submitting the survey was December 19.  In all, 426 of 752 member schools (57%) responded to the survey.

Following are the survey questions and tabulated responses.

Should the IHSA adopt a 4-class system in team sports with more than 600 schools participating (girls volleyball, boys basketball, girls basketball, boys baseball, girls softball)?

If the IHSA adopts a 4-class system, should it use the model presented at the 2005 Principals’ Rules Meetings?

Should the IHSA adopt a 3-class system in individual sports with more than 450 schools participating (boys golf, boys track & field, girls track & field, and possibly boys cross country and girls cross country)?

If the IHSA adopts a 3-class system, should it use the model presented at the 2005 Principals’ Rules Meetings?

With regard to the state final tournament, should the IHSA:

• worry less about geographical representation and more about sending the best teams or individuals to the state finals
• keep things the same as they are now

In bracketed team sports, should the IHSA:

• continue to randomly pair the state final brackets
• wait until all the qualifying teams have been determined, and then seed the brackets

Regarding assignments in all sports and activities, should the IHSA:

• worry more about geography and travel
• keep things about the same as they are now
• worry less about geography and travel

On a scale of 1 to 9, with 1 being “extremely important”, how important is maintaining the Geographic Principle in structuring IHSA state tournaments?

On a scale of 1 to 9, with 1 being “extremely important”, how important is making sure that teams in IHSA tournaments are paired strictly by their seeds (1 vs. 16, 2 vs. 15, etc.)?

In bracketed team sports, should the IHSA:

• eliminate sectional complexes completely and return to the old system of seeding at the regional level
• return to the original sectional complex system that rewarded higher-seeded teams with home games in the regional tournament
• continue with the hybrid sectional complex system that uses fixed regional sites for semifinal and final games (and preliminary games in some sports)

Should the IHSA be allowed to use one of these systems in parts of the state where travel is a concern, and a different system where travel is not a concern?

Should schools have to meet a minimum facility requirement in order to host an IHSA state series contest?

Should a sectional complex be broken into two sub-sectionals when the assigned teams cover an unusually large area (as in downstate Class AA)?

Should a sectional complex be broken into two sub-sectionals when there are a large number of assigned teams (more than 24, as in Class A)?

Regarding assignments to the regional or sectional level, should the IHSA:

• continue using essentially the same regional and sectional assignments for 3-year periods
• return to the original concept, where assignments could change substantially every year

Regarding sectional assignments in the five largest sports (girls volleyball, boys basketball, girls basketball, boys baseball, girls softball), should the IHSA:

• continue to make sectional assignments that are essentially the same across all five sports
• not worry about making the assignments line up

NOTE: Football classifications are variable. In the next four tables, the breakdown is based on the proposed 4-class model for team sports, even though it does equate exactly to football.

Regarding the football playoffs, should the IHSA:

• group all football classes in four quadrants of 8 teams
• group all football classes in two halves of 16 teams
• group all football classes as one bracket of 32 teams

For the same question, here are the responses of football-playing schools only (including schools involved in coops).

Should the IHSA be allowed to use one of these systems in classes where travel is a concern, and a different system where travel is not a concern?

For the same question, here are the responses of football-playing schools only (including schools involved in coops).

Should the IHSA change its out-of-state travel policy to allow schools to travel any distance, provided students miss no more than one school day, including travel to and from the competition?